How Peter Queally v Patricky 'Pitbull' Freire II became a Bellator title fight

Patricio Pitbull gave up the belt so Patricky (right) could fight for it

When Patricky Freire fights for the Bellator lightweight title against Peter Queally this weekend he will have his little brother to thank.

A month before Bellator Dublin, Patricio Freire announced he was relinquishing his lightweight title so his brother, Patricky, could fight for it, with Queally handed a dream bout on home turf.

"I'm no longer the Bellator lightweight champion. Honour and family come first," he said.

"When I first won the lightweight belt it was just about revenge. It was still an honour, but with the loss at 145lbs I'm starting over. It's time for the lightweight division to move on and for Patricky to have his shot. My focus is on AJ (McKee) and him only.

"On November 5th my brother will fight for the lightweight title against Peter Queally in Ireland and we'll bring the title to Brazil."

Despite the financial blow of giving up his remaining title, former two-weight champion Patricio was given assurances his brother would be granted a title shot even though Patricky had lost his last fight against none other than Queally at Bellator 258 last May.

The 'Pitbull' brothers, as they are known, are incredibly close, train together and are just a year apart in age. They also have a long-standing rivalry with SBG Ireland and Queally.

Even with a recent defeat, 35-year-old Patricky is ranked as Bellator's top lightweight contender with a 23-10 record, while Queally sits in fourth.

"It would be pretty silly if he fought someone else after I just beat him," Queally told BBC Sport.

"He had no choice. I think he'd rather be fighting someone else to be honest, but he had no choice."

Patricky has challenged for the Bellator belt three times already, twice to Michael Chandler and once against Marcin Held. All three of those bids were unsuccessful.

While Patricky fights in Dublin, his younger brother has set his sights on recapturing the featherweight belt he lost to AJ McKee in July.

'I was chipping away at Bellator'

While Patricio weighed up whether to give up his belt, Queally's coach and manager John Kavanagh was busy planting the idea of a Dublin rematch in Bellator's mind.

It was a tall ask for Kavanagh, with Bellator traditionally shying away from holding title fights abroad and Ireland having never hosted a major world title fight.

"From the moment he walked out of his last fight, I had this in my head as a possibility," Kavanagh explained, describing himself as a "schemer".

"I was chipping away at the Bellator decision-makers to say what about doing the rematch in Dublin for the belt? At the time his brother had the belt, so that wasn't a possibility. But I told Peter to take care of him and train hard and leave that with me.

"I just chipped away, chipped away and I kept saying it. Then [they told me] his brother gave up the belt and we're going to do the belt in Ireland. I messaged Peter straight away and said, 'I told you'."

What happened in the first Queally v Pitbull fight?

The first encounter between Patricky and Queally was a bloody one. Both men landed shots in a frantic opening round, with Patricky scoring a takedown at the end of opener.

The second round was a similar affair, with the fighters exchanging leg kicks and punches. With the clock ticking down, Patricky decided one more to go to the mat and managed to put Queally on his back but the Irishman was better prepared and landed three devastating elbows that opened up a massive cut on Patricky's head.

The doctor was called in to inspect the cut in between rounds and, despite Patricky's insistence he was prepared to continue fighting, the bout was stopped.

Patricio was cageside as always and equally disappointed with the stoppage, even telling Queally he felt it was an illegal blow that cut his brother.

The Pitbull brothers immediately called for a rematch and, although they have their wish, Queally thinks a home crowd for him will be key in what will be the first time an Irishman has challenged for the a major MMA promotion's belt in Dublin.

"I know the blueprint to beat him now," he said. "It's up to him to do something different. I'll have to figure that out in there if he does that.

"I'm sure I'll be able to. I really feel the five rounds is a big advantage for me. He's a great fighter but one little chink in his armour is he has shown to slow down as the fight goes on. I actually speed up, get stronger.

"This fight being five rounds is a big deal. It's a big advantage for me and it's in Dublin now, which is a big deal too. He's acting like it's not a big deal but he will figure it out it is a big deal when he's in there."

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